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Moscow boosts troop numbers, citing Ukraine war, NATO expansion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Russia is boosting the number of troops in its military for the second time in 15 months, citing the war in Ukraine and the expansion of the NATO defense alliance.Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.3 million as the Ukraine war grinds on after 21 months. Putin’s decree, which entered into force immediately, brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to 2.2 million, including 1.3 million troops.The Russian defense ministry in a message posted on Telegram cited the war in Ukraine and NATO’s expansion — which was spurred by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — as the reasons for the increase in army personnel. Finland joined the Western defense alliance this past spring, and Sweden said this week that Turkey has promised it will ratify Stockholm’s bid “within weeks.” NATO’s “combined armed forces are being built up near Russia’s borde...

Mild Saturday, rain Sunday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Good morning! It’s been a gloomy start with overcast conditions and areas of fog. It’ll be mild start to finish today. Today is your best weekend day to get outside! Tomorrow, it’ll feel cooler with showers and a northeast breeze. It’s a mainly dry Saturday with a frontal boundary to our north. If you’re near the Mass/New Hampshire border you might getting a passing sprinkle. High temperatures will get back in the 50s this afternoon. We’ll see a lot of clouds through the day, but should see some breaks in the cloud cover this afternoon.Overnight, we’ll have layers of clouds. Some of get a shower by sunrise.Tomorrow high temperatures will be in the 40s with overcast conditions and a northeast breeze. Below is what radar could look like throughout the day tomorrow. -Meteorologist Melanie Black

Israeli offensive shifts to crowded southern Gaza, driving up death toll despite evacuation orders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians.At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning following a weeklong truce with the territory’s ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.Separately, the ministry announced that the overall death toll in Gaza since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 15,200, a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300. The ministry had stopped issuing daily updates of the overall toll on Nov. 11, following war-related disruptions of connectivity and hospital operations.The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but said Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more th...

Burkina Faso rights defender abducted as concerns grow over alleged clampdown on dissent

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A prominent human rights defender in Burkina Faso has been abducted by unknown individuals, rights groups have announced, in what activists say could be the latest attempt by the military government to target dissidents using a controversial law.Daouda Diallo, a 2022 recipient of the Martin Ennals international human rights award, was abducted on Friday in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou after visiting the passport department where he had gone to renew his documents, according to the local Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities civic group, which Diallo founded.His captors – in civilian clothing – accosted him as he tried to enter his car and took him to “an unknown location,” the group said in a statement on Friday, warning that Diallo’s health could be at risk and demanding his “immediate and unconditional” release.Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa office said Diallo’s abduction was “presumably (for...

Italian officials secure 12th Century leaning tower in Bologna to prevent collapse

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Officials have secured the area around one of two 12th Century towers that have become symbolic of the northern city of Bologna, fearing its leaning could lead to collapse.The city on Friday announced 4.3 million euros ($4.7 million) in works to shore up the Garisenda tower, one of the so-called Two Towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts. Work will proceed during January and February.Italy’s civil protection agency has maintained a yellow alert on the site, denoting caution but not imminent danger.The Garisenda, the shorter of two towers built between 1109 and 1119, currently stands 48 meters (157 feet) feet to the Asinelli’s 97 meters (320 feet). Mayor Matteo Lepore noted in a debate earlier this month that the Garisenda tower has leaned since it was built “and has been a concern ever since.” It sustained additional damage in the medieval era when ironwork and b...

At first-ever health day at UN climate summit, Canadian doctors push for action

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

As global leaders prepare to meet for the first dedicated health day at a UN climate summit, Canadian doctors plan to use the platform to push for a new federal office dedicated to addressing the health effects of climate change.The president of a major national physicians group says a summer of record-breaking heat and air-polluting wildfires drove home the urgent need for decision-makers to organize a pan-Canadian response.A proposed national “climate and health secretariat” would work across governments to chart a course to a climate-resilient and low-carbon health-care system, said Dr. Kathleen Ross, president of the Canadian Medical Association.“We recognize that the solution to our climate crisis isn’t uniquely poised in just one silo of the government,” said Ross.Sunday will mark the first time a UN climate summit, known this year as COP28, will dedicate a day to exploring the links between health and climate change, which the World Health Organi...

Amid housing crisis, jail seen as preferable to living on the street

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Michael Keough has to pause in the middle of his phone call from Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest jail to cough and wipe his eyes — there’s black mould on the wall where the phones are, he explains, and it irritates him after a while.The 37-year-old is back at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s after declining a bail hearing in September and consenting to be placed on remand in the 164-year-old crumbling building, where an ongoing rodent infestation led to an inmate being bitten in his sleep.The conditions inside the penitentiary are horrific, Keough said. But outside, he said, they’re worse. Keough is homeless, and he was living in a tent and panhandling before his current stay at the penitentiary. When someone stole his tent and he had nowhere left to go, he started stealing food again, waiting to be picked up by police and sent back to jail, where he’d at least have meals and a bed.“If I was released on b...

Saturday Forecast: Overcast, few showers, mid 40s

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Saturday: Overcast skies & a few showers/areas of drizzle. NE 5-15 mph. High: 45Saturday Night: Rain returns late. Some wet snowflakes far western Chicagoland. ESE 5-10 mph Low: 37Sunday: Rain at times, tapering late morning. Some snow mixed in at times. SE/SSW 10-20 mph. High: 42Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Extended outlook has a mix of clouds and sun for Monday with highs in the low 40s. More clouds on Tuesday with PM rain/snow showers late in the day with highs again in the mid to low 40s. Cloudy skies on Wednesday but likely dry with a high around 42. Breezy and some breaks of sun on Thu with highs in the mid to upper 40s. Mild for next Friday with highs near 50 and a chance of showers. 

Paws Pet of the Week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Meet Thumper in this Paws Pet of the Week.Home Page | PAWS ChicagoLove the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

A mystery illness is spreading in dogs. Can your cat catch it, too?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Dogs across the country have been coming down with a mystery illness recently, prompting concerns for pet parents. Multiple states — including Colorado, California, Oregon, and New Hampshire —have reported cases of the illness, which has caused lasting respiratory disease and pneumonia and does not respond to antibiotics. In some dogs, the illness has been fatal.Symptoms of the respiratory illness include coughing, sneezing, nasal or eye discharge and lethargy. Some cases of the pneumonia progress quickly, making dogs very sick within 24 to 36 hours.But if you have a different furry pet, should you be concerned? With dog mystery illness spreading, vets urge caution Whether it's a cat or another pet, early indications seem to show that they aren't getting the illness. Dr. Lindsey Ganzer, a veterinarian and the owner and CEO of North Springs Veterinary Referral Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told Good Morning America that so far, the illness has only been seen in ...